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Alphabet is the final major tech company to pay President Donald Trump after it barred him from a social media platform following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
On Monday, Alphabet, which owns YouTube, announced that it would pay $24.5 million to settle a case brought by Trump following his post-riot ban. Of that amount, $22 million will go to Trump.
The remaining $2.5 million will go to co-plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union, Andrew Baggiani, Austen Fletcher, Maryse Veronica Jean-Louis, Frank Valentine, Kelly Victory, and Naomi Wolf.
Six days after the Capitol riot, YouTube announced that it would suspend Trump’s account “for a minimum of one week “due to concerns about the ongoing potential for violence.”
“We will turn the account back on,” then-YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said in March 2021. “But it will be when we see the reduced law enforcement in capitals in the US, if we don’t see different warnings coming out of government agencies, those would all be signals to us that it would be safe to turn the channel back on.”
In July 2021, Trump sued three major platforms — Twitter (now X), Alphabet’s YouTube, and Meta, along with their CEOs — in Florida, accusing them of violating his free speech. The case was later moved to California, where Alphabet is headquartered.
The restrictions on Trump’s account were not lifted until March 2023, after both X and Meta had already reinstated Trump on their platforms.
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According to court filings, Trump decided that the $22 million would go to the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, and toward the construction of an expansive ballroom on the White House grounds.
John Kelly, Trump’s attorney on the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment left after business hours Monday.
The news, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, brings to a close settlement talks that had dragged on for months.
Trump previously reached agreements with X, formerly Twitter, and Meta to settle their separate cases. All told, Trump has raked in more than $57 million in settlement money related to his post-January 6 bans from leading social media platforms.
Alphabet did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Per the terms of the settlement, the company admitted no liability or fault on its part.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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